create kiddo: Kool-Aid Dyed Rice

so here are the GENIUS reasons why I dye with kool-aid vs. food coloring

kool-aid doesn’t dye your hands after it dries like the food coloring does

it smells good, so it covers the rubbing alcohol smell, which even after the rice dries can still be overwhelming

the colors are gorgeous, much brighter than food coloring would make

so have I convinced ya? are you a kool-aid convert? (side note: when purchasing kool-aid, to determine the color that it will dye to, look at the picture on the front, of the liquid in the cup that mr. kool-aid man is holding – don’t be fooled by the color of the envelope – the color in the cup is the color it will dye to)

1 cup of rice (I buy a huge 5lb or 10lb bag at Walmart very cheap just for this purpose)

1 teaspoon rubbing alcohol

1/2 teaspoon kool-aid (weirdly packets can vary from color, to how much is in each envelope but generally each envelope contains 1 teaspoon)

Here’s how it goes together:

open your freezer bag nice & wide and stand it up

first add the 1 cup of rice

next add the 1/2 teaspoon kool-aid

lastly add the 1 teaspoon of rubbing alcohol

seal it shut (make sure it is shut…because wet kool-aided rice would NOT be a fun experience to clean up)

and shake, shake, shake it up (this can be a fun part in the process for the kids to do too!)

let it sit for a good 15 minutes

pour it out onto a tray & get it as flat as it will go so that you can dry it overnight (or for at least 6-8 hours)

I usually make little tin foil boats (like the pic below) in the tray to separate the colors & it looks soooo pretty too!

when it is dry it will be all clumped together, smoosh (this is the technical word) it down to separate the rice grains & you are good to go (smooshing is also fun for the kiddos to do, to get them involved!)

[…] shares some fun with coloring cooked spaghetti. Mama Miss has tutorials on coloring both pasta and rice with Kool-Aid Teach Preschool has a post that explains coloring rice with Kool-Aid, food coloring, […]

[…] would wear Cherry Kool-Aid perfume if they made it. Anyway, Melissa has a great tutorial on how to dye rice with Kool-Aid! Hop on over to read about it in more detail and why she prefers it to food coloring. I followed […]

[…] I have dyed rice for sensory bins before, I had never tried adding a scent. Luckily, I found this awesome tutorial at Mama Miss all about using Kool-aid to dye rice. This method was really easy and yielded […]

[…] would wear Cherry Kool-Aid perfume if they made it. Anyway, Melissa has a great tutorial on how to dye rice with Kool-Aid! Hop on over to read about it in more detail and why she prefers it to food coloring. I followed […]